Lupus research organizations welcome big-science push to drive new therapies for lupus patients

The Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR) and the Lupus Research Institute (LRI) have joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) launched to speed new paths to treatment for lupus and autoimmune diseases.

The new $230 million collaboration will harness the collective knowledge and resources among the NIH, biopharmaceutical companies, nonprofit organizations and academic communities. Recognizing that no new targeted therapies exist for severe lupus, the new consortia will work to better understand the disease and uncover new targets for drug development. A total of $41.6 million is allocated specifically to the autoimmune diseases lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Collaboration pushes discovery forward

"We are very pleased to see the NIH build upon the deep foundation of novel scientific discovery that the lupus research organizations have accomplished over the past decade," said Margaret Dowd, President and CEO of the Lupus Research Institute. "By investing in early-stage, high-risk ideas, we have supported innovation in fundamental understanding of the disease and successfully identified a diverse range of new pathways and targets in lupus. Now the NIH partnership will propel progress further with tremendous investment and collaboration across all sectors."

Alliance for Lupus Research President Kenneth M. Farber commented, "The large-scale approach of the AMP program is necessary to critically assess which of the many novel pathways and targets implicated in lupus show the greatest promise for the development of new therapeutics. We are excited to be part of this new consortia that takes collaboration in lupus to a new level. By advancing targets, the program promises to benefit not just lupus patients but all those living with systemic autoimmune diseases."

As members of the consortium steering committee for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, LRI and ALR will have an active role in setting the research agenda and assessing progress.